SilverHaired Maiden
by BlueMageOne
Summary: In the beginning, there was hardship, love, and humanity. What events led up to Platina's escape from slavery with Lucian? How was she affected by the valkyrie persona slumbering within her?
1. Negative Roots

The boy's furrowed brow glistened in the late summer's heat as he bent himself over the well and searched thirstily for a reflection. The sun glinted off the water's shimmering surface and he dropped a pail into it. It took a few seconds for it to reach the bottom.

"Long way's down…" He tugged at the rope in efforts to drag the bucket against the well's floor.

"Is something the matter, Lucian?"

The boy turned around in surprise and smiled wearily at the girl standing a few feet away, her hands clasped in front of her timidly.

"It's so low. I'm trying to bring up enough to at least sip on before I get back to work," Lucian explained kindly, letting his gaze wander back down to the bucket. It was half sunken, one of its sides exposed and partially dry. He felt his tongue swell against the roof of his mouth.

"I know," the girl said, quietly making her way beside him and glancing down, "I just barely filled a pail for mother. If it doesn't rain soon, we shall be facing another failed crop like last year,"

Lucian tugged at the bucket until it was in his gloved hands. He held it up to his mouth and greedily downed most of its contents. His eyes wandered down to the girl as he did so and he shyly stopped and pushed it towards her insistently.

"I'm sorry, you must be tired as well. Have some, Platina,"

She smiled and waved her hand lightly, stepping back, "Oh no no, it is fine. Drink it for yourself,"

He hesitated and then began drinking again. Tilting his head back, he struggled to down every drop.

"Good?" Platina's eyebrows lifted.

Lucian let the bucket fall to the ground and he wiped his mouth, cringing. "It's warm. The ground is practically blazing. The well holds no mercy for the workers,"

"Be sure not to exhaust yourself. A few of the men have already passed through our home, dehydrated, and were sent away," Platina offered, turning to leave the well, with Lucian falling into step with her, "We need all the strength that we have, out working. There is so much to be done…so little time to do it. Summer comes and goes so easily,"

"I'll be alright," Lucian nodded, pulling off his soiled gloves and wiping his hands against sides, "with my personal healer constantly giving me good advice and looking after me, what could possibly go wrong?" He brushed her shoulder with his own and smiled confidently at her.

"Oh Lucian!" she laughed softly, raising one pale, thin hand to her face and brushing a strand a loose hair back. She was secretly pleased.

"_You_ just have to be sure to not exhaust yourself as well. I'm sure it's difficult scurrying around in the kitchen with the oven flaring like that," Lucian caught the amused look in her eyes and went on, "Don't make me seek words with your mother, about the way she makes you slave during hot mornings,"

Platina shook her head in mock exasperation and brushed the comment off, choosing to respond as she usually did, with slight humour and naivety. "But I _like_ slaving during hot mornings," she grabbed playfully at his arm and he stopped to face her, laughing. "Besides, if I didn't, what would you have to praise each and every day, come break-time? You like my fresh bread the best!" She poked a small finger at his chest, accusingly, and smiled slyly.

"You think so? Maybe I just won't-"

"You, Miss! Come over here right now!"

Lucian straightened up and felt a wave of disheartenment wash over him as Platina's eyes clouded over. She bowed her head, her hands falling straight to her sides as she brushed past him, calling, "I'm here, Mother!" Lucian remained with his back to her as he heard Platina hurriedly explain her tardiness to her parent, who was in no mood to accept any sort of explanation.

"How many times will I have to get it through that skull of yours! When you are done cleaning up your mess you aren't to wander off occupying worthless, little freeloaders like that one…!" The words trailed on and on until the two were out of range and Lucian was left standing alone.

He took a deep breath and walked back to the well.


	2. Requiem to a Predicament

When Lucian saw Platina later on in the day, she smiled wistfully at him on the other side of the logging area and hurried on. He stood up impulsively and raised his hand to wave, but her braid was already dancing to and fro as she leapt away.

"These trees ain't gonna get chopped by theirselves," One of the villagers grunted, throwing another falling trunk into the pile situated near the stump Lucian sat on.

"Sorry, I was just thinking for a little bit. I promise to have most of this done by nightfall," The boy apologized, kicking his heel into the new addition, in attempt to roll it onto other trunks. The man, grey, grizzled and weathered by a lifetime of work, squinted his eyes and snarled at him.

"Any more thinkin' and you'll be in the doghouse when it comes time to git yer wages,"

Lucian nodded sullenly as the man moved on, and surveyed the amount of wood that he had to chop before the sky grew dark.

"It's got to get better than this…" He thought and doubled over, struggling to get a grip on a few newly sawn trees. Although they were thin, they were heavy, and the boy of nearly sixteen felt himself swaying as he stepped carefully past the other men buried in their work. Moving past them all, he slowly made his way towards an old, rickety barn used to store the day's fresh wood, and dropped them all next to a large stump.

"By the good grace of Odin…" The boy cursed and wrapped his hands around the axe laying in the grass nearby, "This'll take me all night by the way I'm going,"

Lucian bent down and placed one of the trunks on the stump in front of him, steadying it with his foot. Then he brought down the blade swiftly and cleanly and pounded at the log until it was split into five pieces. Panting, he wiped his gloved hand across his forehead, dirt streaking and settling into his skin as he did so. With every tree pile he chopped up, he bumbled across the field and took more as they were sawn down, observing the sun's position with increasing interest and exhaustion.

"I hope Mama…did her…bedding today…!" He huffed to himself as he swung the axe down again and again, "I can't wait to collapse on some…fresh, clean sheets," The last of the tree was split and the logs were hurled upward by the intensity of his chop, one of them lodging into his shins. Lucian let go of the axe in frustration and sat down in a frenzy, on the stump.

"Damn blade, if only it were sharper, and I wouldn't have to slave away at this so much!" He muttered, tearing his pant leg up and putting pressure on his injury.

"Be thee alright?" A soft voice sang out behind him, and Lucian brightened at the sound of her voice.

"Platina?" He asked, as she made her way around the mess of logs and sat down on the stump beside him, "I thought you were in trouble…"

"Oh I was," She laughed softly, avoiding his gaze, "I had to clean up in the attic cupboards for hours because of it, but it was alright. Mother has forgiven me,"

Lucian's smile faded as he gingerly brought his hand up to her face and brushed aside more wisps of hair loose from her braid. He detected a small red patch just underneath her cheekbone. Platina flushed and pushed his hand away.

"I shouldn't have wandered off like I did," She offered, and Lucian shook his head in defiance, saying nothing. For a few moments, the two sat and observed the sun sinking into the horizon.

"The sky watcher has said that it'll be a beautiful day for tomorrow as well. I think Coriander will benefit greatly from this weather. We'll be so prepared for winter that-"

Lucian cut her off, "I want to talk with you,"

Platina's eyes widened in surprise. "What do you mean? Are we not talking now?"

He shook his head. "No, I mean a _real_ talk. Away from this village, this work,"

"Well that should prove to be difficult…" her little voiced was laced with confusion, "Tomorrow is the day Mother and I wash all the bedding and the curtains and our clothes and I know that some of the men want to start preparing for their journey past the valley to buy some supplies in the cities,"

"Then we'll wait," He said sternly.

"I don't understand. What do you wish to tell me?"

He looked at her keenly and forced a smile. "I would just like for us to go back to the days when we didn't share into the responsibility of caring for the village,"

Platina's mouth opened in shock, "Lucian, you wish for us to waste our time with games and merriment when we are expected to work…?"

"That's not what I meant," He insisted soothingly, "It's just that…we work around here, so much. So many people depend on us," He turned his face towards Platina's, which was pale in the golden sun. "I miss the days when we…depended on each other,"

Once more, her eyes widened, and then suddenly she was laughing gently, tugging at his sleeve and he found himself laughing with her.

"Oh Lucian, you'll make a freeloader of me yet!" Lucian knew she was making light of the earlier situation and found himself unable to laugh. He felt her fingers slip into the tops of his gloves but she pulled away as soon as she realized that he was no longer having fun.

"I, I really should go now. I came to bring water to the loggers," She burst out, suddenly standing. With a polite nod, she dashed toward the crowd of villagers some yards away.

Lucian hung his head, shutting out the slight burning rippling through his tired shoulders. Standing up and searching for the axe, he promised himself that he would see Platina alone at least once during the next following days.


	3. Recurrent Shudders

Lucian had trouble entering his house that night. The moon shone brightly in the sky above him, but like all houses, his stood partially in the shadows; looming and unwelcoming. It didn't help either that his mother stood on the other side, refusing to pull back the latch.

"Please Mama, I apologize for being late. There were so many trees…" He pleaded.

"A fine excuse!" She called shrilly, on the other side of the door, "Most of the men saw you with that busybody in the field, taking a load off. Work, indeed!"

Lucian sighed and winced against the pain searing through his back and ending in a dull ache in his thighs. He leaned himself against the door hoping to rest and to force it inward. "That was just for a minute! Jerad is _always_ on my case about something! I worked hard the entire night, I promise!"

There was silence, and then she spoke again, quieter this time, "I shouldn't have to hear about your slackening pace from the rest of this village. Soon, no one will want you to work for them,"

Lucian closed his eyes in anger and knew what was coming.

"Is that what you want?" She quipped sharply.

"No Mama," He replied softly.

"Then get yourself around back and tell your father that," Lucian heard her slip away from the door and straightened up, unable to keep his eyes open to more than just a slit.

"Around back…" He repeated, and fumbled through the weeds choking his way as he walked around the side of the house. Their backyard emptied into a field that glistened in the moonlight. Lucian recognized all of his father's tools and equipment, scattered around the grass like a child's playpen. His heart quickened as he heard his father step from the shadows with something in his hands.

"You should know by now that work comes before wanting to start a family," His gruff, stern voice called out.

Lucian was startled, but shook his head angrily, answering, " 'Start a family!' Platina is my friend and there's nothing wrong to talking to my friend,"

His father moved closer, and Lucian could just barely make out his lion beard in the darkness. It was as golden as his own hair, yet tinged here and there with grey. Lucian remembered for an instant, running his fingers through it when he was little, sitting upon his father's knee. He shuddered for a moment.

"You have no friends," His father corrected, and as with all the times before, Lucian detected sadness, possibly sympathy in his voice. Lucian wanted to call him a liar.

"Nobody in this village has friends, Lucian," his father continued, "we have work and we have a need to survive,"

"Yes I know Father,"

"It doesn't get much worse," His father interrupted.

"And I know that! I only sat down for a few minutes!" Lucian snapped, terrified by the sound of his own voice.

"Child!" His father snarled, and Lucian caught a glimpse of his father's hands pulling at the top of his pants. At once, he lost the will to argue and his lips quivered. The man continued, "It hurts me to hear from that damned scum of the earth that _my _son is unable to pull his weight around here. It is nothing but a lie,"

Lucian took a step back in confusement, his eyes never wavering from his father's hands, which now held a belt.

"My son can do anything that any grown man in this village can," He walked up to Lucian, his voice lowering with every step. The son met his father's unyielding, unrelenting gaze.

"What I don't like is the truth," He breathed angrily, towering over Lucian, whose shoulders sagged in sadness, "And the truth is," -he grabbed Lucian's shoulder and shook him hard enough that he screamed- "That my son is capable of completing his work and duties but he _chooses_ not to, at times because of his wild, confounded imagination that still hasn't been curbed at the age of manhood!"

Lucian closed his eyes hard, refusing to let tears escape. His father's fingertips cut into his sore muscles, screaming in protest. All at once, Lucian felt himself slip from his grasp and he fell onto the grass, breathing hard. His father put his hands on his hips and spoke quietly, almost calmly.

"You need to try harder. You need to work harder. You're my son Lucian and I know you can do this,"

The boy nodded stiffly and pulled himself up, "Father I'm sorry,"

"Not anymore than I am," the man returned, "but you know it needs to be done. Your Mama calls for it,"

Lucian heard himself sniffle and let himself be pushed to the side by the rough, strong hands of his parent. It took no more than a moment for the belt to pierce the skin of his back one, two and then three times.

Lucian taught himself not to cry out, anymore.


	4. A Tense Atmosphere

The first thing Lucian saw the next morning was light flooding through the window beside his bed. The curtains hung limply to the sides, and a caterpillar crawled around on the ledge, before making its way onto the blankets covering his knees.

Lucian watched it for a few moments, as his head cleared from sleep. Outside somewhere, on his father's fields, a flock of birds chirped out good morning and pecked around in the grass.

"Wake up, Lu!" He grinned mischievously and held his arms open wide as his sister dashed into his corner of the room and pulled herself next to him. Lucian pressed his lips to her hair and wrapped his arms around her waist, settling her between his knees carefully.

"Do you see that?" He whispered, pointing towards the caterpillar going about its business on the sheets. Little Maleah pressed her palms to her mouth in disbelief, and pulled herself away, determined to pick up the little critter.

"So small!" She cried, as it crawled around her tiny fingers. Lucian rested his chin upon her shoulders and laughed.

"Yes, it is. But not for long. Oh, be careful with it," For a moment they were both in awe, watching, until suddenly it felt and plopped onto Maleah's toes. She wriggled them and chuckled.

"It tickles, and it's kind of furry," She said in disbelief, picking it up again. Lucian's hands found hers, and he plucked the caterpillar from her fingers and set it on the ledge again. Maleah turned her head and pouted at him.

"Oh come now, the little thing is on a journey. We mustn't keep it from its destination," He scolded good-naturedly. She pushed past him in a huff and set her bare feet on the floor.

After awhile she said, "Destination?" Lucian swung himself over the side of the bed, creaking and moaning as he did so and explained, "Well yes. The caterpillar doesn't stay like that forever. When it feels it's the right time, it wraps itself up somewhere comfortable and safe. And then after a time, it turns into a butterfly. A much more beautiful and elegant little creature that flutters about,"

Maleah made a face and said, "You left out a lot," but he noticed that she seemed pleased. They fell silent after that, sitting side by side in contentment. Then suddenly, Lucian glanced out the window and spoke up, "It seems much later than it should be. Did Mama call for me before I woke up just now?"

She shook her head. "Noooo…I think she said something about letting you sleep a bit longer, since you came home late, last night," she looked up towards him with her innocent, sea-blue eyes and added casually, "You missed dinner,"

Lucian's stomach growled.

"Besides," she continued, glancing down to her feet, "I'm sure she feels bad,"

Her brother grabbed her elbow a bit frantically and turned her towards him. "For what?" He asked, suspiciously. Maleah pulled away and stood in front of him, her pale blonde hair streaming from her shoulders.

"Stop protecting me from what she makes Papa do to you, Lucian. I heard you knocking at the door last night,"

Lucian also stood up and towered over her, pointing a finger at her up-turned nose. "And you shouldn't be awake at such an hour, listening to adult conversations," He replied quietly.

"I _am _an adult," She spat back, in common sisterly fashion. Turning on her heels, Maleah stormed past the hung sheets , her nightgown flailing behind her. Lucian ran his fingers through his hair, laughing softly to himself.

"Lu-u-u-u-cian!" It was his mother.

He groaned inwardly and descended down the rickety steps into the kitchen. Mama was bustling around the table, cleaning up the last remains of her husbands breakfast. The oven was letting off too much heat already and so Lucian kept to the shadows.

"Your father has already left to consult with some of the other men leaving for Crell tomorrow. He wants you to join him," She said, scooping up dishes and dropping them into a wide basin set atop a ledge beside the stove.

"So I guess there's no field work today," Lucian muttered to himself.

"Probably not. At least not this morning," Mama's skirts clung to her legs as she moved around obstacles, one of them being Maleah who flew to take her place at the table. "If you have any coins, you should take them to the town square and place a request,"

Lucian folded his arms against himself and inhaled slowly, filling his nose with the scent of the day's bread already baking. It permeated the room, which by nightfall, usually smelled of ashes, coal and dust from the day's work.

"What exactly should I request?" He asked pointedly.

"A ribbon for my hair," Maleah offered.

Mama straightened up, and flashed him a heated look. "Perhaps something that we need!" he gaze fell upon her daughter in disgust, "A waste of money that would be," Maleah slipped a spoonful of weak porridge into her mouth and fell silent.

"Then why did you bother telling me? I doubt you'd let me under this roof if I didn't ask for something that benefited everyone," Lucian returned angrily. Mama went on wiping down the dishes in the basin, her back to him.

"You should know better, that's why. Asking someone to purchase something so…material,"- and here her eyes darted towards Maleah- "won't do anyone any good," She moved towards the cupboards, devoid of anything homely and edible, and started piling breakfast plates, "besides. You are young yet, and you have a lot to learn about how to handle your money,"

Lucian scoffed and thought to himself, "But Father told me that I was a man,"

"I'm sorry, Mama" Maleah said meekly, and Mama squeezed her shoulder kindly as she passed by her. She stopped and turned to Lucian again.

"You should get yourself over to the town square quickly. No telling how many others are lining up already,"

He nodded, and climbed the stairs back up to his bed to unhook his day clothes from the wall.


	5. Over There

Coriander Village was a very remote and isolated settlement surrounded entirely by sparse woods and plains. The grass running through the town streets, was nearly worn down to rock and dirt by years of trampling hooves and poor men's feet. Trees dotted the trails woven between houses, but almost all of them were barren and unsalvageable, branches gnarled and twisted towards the sky as if pointing to a better place. There was no consistent scheme in housing placement, and they sat here and there on hilly plains, close to each other and all built solely to shelter the people within, rather than to comfortably house a family.

Many families resided in Coriander.

Lucian kicked up dust with every step he took. His house was situated at the end of one of the long, dead end roads that reached out from the village square. He considered himself fortunate, to have been born into one of the few families that tilled their own land. Of course, it was all but abandoned by the governors who owned everything his family lived on.

By mid-morning, the village was more than awake and already bustling with life. Many of Coriander's people were walking in the same direction as he, determined to pass on their small amount of earnings and a list of things they wished to purchase, to a group of men preparing to depart for one of their trek's to the greater cities. Lucian plunged one hand into his pants pocket and clutched at the bandana tied around his neck with the other.

He wondered what his father could want with him at such a time, and walked along the stone walls lining the road with his head down. Other villagers passed him without kind words, and street vendors skulked off to the sides gruffly shouting out descriptions of their wares. He could see people gathering in a crowd some distance ahead, once he had walked a considerable distance from his house. The noise of the people suddenly grew unbearable and Lucian turned on his heel to dart away before he heard his name being called.

"…my son, Lucian," he heard, as he spun around and slowly walked towards his father talking to a man much smaller than he, with long greying hair reaching to his shoulders. There was a healthy, radiant flush to his cheeks and Lucian surmised that the man was not from Coriander.

"Yes, Father?" He asked as he approached, and politely nodded to the stranger.

"I think that you'll find that Lucian's a trustworthy, honest young man. He's very strong for his age, and is a hefty worker. He won't let you down," Father continued, a pleased glint in his eyes and a half smile playing upon his mouth nearly buried by the gold and grey hairs growing from around his chin.

Lucian flashed a puzzled look to his father and felt uncomfortable after hearing his words.

Nonetheless, he extended a hand and the stranger took it eagerly. His grasp was strong and Lucian felt himself thinking of the feel of his skin long after they pulled their hands away.

"This man has probably never worked like I have a day in his life…" He thought to himself, but outwardly expressed greetings.

"Hello Lucian. Asbjorn here tells me that you're a reliable young man. I'm looking for someone to accompany me to Crell Monferaigne. I'm eager to expand my business on the far side of this continent," When he saw Lucian blink twice, the man smiled and continued, "I'm from Hai-Lan, in the south-west. I don't travel out here too often,"

"We're glad to see a new face around here. This village can seem pretty lonely to those of us who live here," Father offered, folding his bear arms across his chest. Lucian's shoulders sagged as he felt himself seemingly shrinking in his father's presence.

"I'm sure it can," the man said, glancing around with interest. Lucian watched him for a moment and then looked to his feet. A tinge of anger rose up through him as he wondered what his father would say next, with every intention to solely please his guest.

"When do you leave?" Father's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Tomorrow, actually. I haven't long to stay, although I've enjoyed the simplistic lifestyle that Coriander village has offered me so far," The stranger answered. Lucian looked up with his brows knit in amusement, and he realized the man was looking straight at him.

"Business isn't that good huh," He said politely, and he saw his father's fists clench, still folded inward. Surprisingly, the man returned, "No, not at all. The people here are much too involved in their lives of agriculture to be interested in what I have to sell,"

Lucian's father outwardly relaxed.

"If you are moving on past our village, then you will be glad to have someone accompany you personally. I can see no other person in this village fit to do that, than Lucian," He said.

The man nodded and smiled at Lucian. Lucian felt himself smiling back, sincerely.

"If that's the case, then would you be up for a little adventure young man?"

Lucian nodded but was taken aback from the casual, friendly nature emanating from the merchant. He felt himself searching to say yes or no, two words he never really had a chance to use in response to such a question.

"Yeah-yes that would be really good. I mean, I will help you out as much as I can. You can count on me," He stammered, feeling his cheeks flush in embarrassment. But the stranger didn't seem to notice his uneasiness.

"Glad to hear it Lucian," and once more, the man extended his hand. Something about the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled allowed Lucian to pump his hand more confidently the second time.

"Lucian has to head back to his mother to complete his morning chores. If you wish to meet with him anytime later, don't hesitate to look for us, in the eastern outskirts of the village," Father explained, "I have a field," As if the last words would make their household stand out amongst the rest.

"Yes, thank you. I will do that," the man said, still looking at Lucian, who watched his father drift into a denser crowd of people huddling nearby.

"Shall I call for you after suppertime?"

Lucian turned back to the man, "What?"

"Is that a good time for you?" Still smiling.

Lucian nodded self-consciously.

"My name is Brian, but most people come to know me as Bri," The man said, "run on home now and do what you have to do. I'm sure the day will pass quickly,"

"Yes, I'm sure too," Lucian said absentmindedly, and offered another polite nod.

"I look forward to working with you,"


	6. Tomorrow

Lucian finished stacking wood in his father's woodshed when he began to really look forward to the next day. He found comfort in thinking of the forest's cool protection and the still, green scenery that he would take in during the journey, in contrast to Coriander's varying shades of browns and lifelessness.

"It'll be a great opportunity," he told Maleah, hovering near the doorway and watching him haul wood from the floor to the peeling sides of the shed. She had her fingers in her mouth, and Lucian smiled reassuringly at her.

"I'll be fine, Maleah. And I will come home with lots of wonderful things for you,"

Her eyes brightened and she smiled coyly, a rare sight in their household. He continued piling the logs and speaking to her.

"Some of the men are saying it'll take a little over two and a half weeks to reach Crell, since the trees get thicker beyond our woods. There's also a number of them hauling carts and wagons that will be full of surprises when we start back for the village!" His voice rose with anticipation. Maleah's eyes glazed over in thought as she remembered the seasonal treks the villagers made to major cities throughout the continent.

"And, the man I'm going with, he's from Hai-Lan. That's waaaaay over on the opposite side of the continent. Actually, it's not even _on _ this continent. It's on an island. I hear it's so beautiful," The words practically poured from his mouth as he kept on and on.

"An island?" Maleah repeated.

"Yes Mally, something you've never really heard of before. It's a small chunk of land with a, a prosperous and wealthy nation living on it. Right beside the water! The ocean! Can you imagine that?" He watched his little sister's nose crinkle in frustration as she tried to. His heart ached with sorrow for one fleeting moment and then a wave of giddiness engulfed him again.

"I can't believe Father introduced me to him. I can't wait to depart. I'll see so many things, speak to so many new people…" He trailed off, realizing Maleah was more preoccupied in drawing pictures in the dirt with her brown toes. He continued smiling anyway.

After the wood was piled, Lucian threw off his gloves and cheerfully took Maleah by the hand and led her back into the house for their noon-time meal. Father had returned and has taken his place at the head of the table, and Mama was practically dashing from the oven to the table in efforts to produce an early dinner. Lucian seated Maleah in her chair and took his place opposite from her. He felt ravenous.

"I should expect you to enjoy this dinner, especially you Lucian, since it will be your last here at home for a few days," Mama said, crouching and drawing bread out of the oven.

"Like a good wife, you are always thinking of ways to feed your family," Father praised, but his voice was mechanical. Lucian knew he was just as hungry and impatient as he was.

Mama laid a fresh loaf of bread upon the table and Lucian nearly cried out in delight. "Butter! Mama, how…how did you get this?"

She cast him a pleased, tight lipped smile and said, "Laia's cows have been unusually healthy, lately. She churned all of her milk into butter and put it up on the market this morning,"

Father shook his head and replied, "I never really did understand her train of thought. Why not keep it all for herself?"

Mama lost no time in responding, "She knows that she needs to provide for the village before she provides for her family. And besides," she chuckled and pointed a gloved hand towards her husband, "you know she made a fortune's worth in gold by selling it," Father grunted in annoyance and the room fell silent as Mama went about preparing the last of the food. An air of envy fell upon his family and Lucian suddenly felt repulsed. He couldn't bare to look at the wide, hungry eyes of his sister, no doubt imagining such good fortune.

Mama placed a pan of thin, salted meat in front of them all, and a modest sized bowl of white rice. Father filled his plate first, then Mama, and then finally Lucian and Maleah. As he stared at his dinner, Lucian licked his lips hungrily and then looked up, saying, "Wait, Laia? Isn't that Platina's mother?"

He saw his Father and Mama stop chewing their food and eye each other.

"If Platina is the girl that is always bothering you while you work, then yes," They resumed eating.

Lucian's gaze lowered sadly to his plate, his balloon of happiness long gone. For the first time that morning, he thought of Platina and how she would have to stay behind as he moved on to grander things.

At least for a little while.


	7. All Is Twilight

The window was close to the ground, and like most houses in Coriander, was not fitted with glass. Every winter, they were boarded up, effectively damming off what little warmth and energy the distant sun had to offer. Cold seasons were always the worst.

In the summertime, curtains were pulled back, but in Platina's case, the windows were just bare; a gaping hole just inches from where her tiny face lay still upon a flattened, straw pillow. She looked majestic, floundering in the moonlight as Lucian crept closer to her bedside.

"Platina? Are you awake?" he called softly. His trembling voice was barely audible above the blood pounding in his ears, yet it was enough to wonder if he called attention to himself already.

The girl seemed to sit up mechanically and rub the back of her hand over her eyes. "Lucian, is that you?" Nothing but a whisper.

By now, his hands rested upon the cracked window ledge and he squinted his eyes to make out her face. His silhouette blocked the path of the moonlight that formerly rested upon her hair.

"Why are you…?" she began and threw back her head with a deep yawn.

"I'm sorry to wake you at this hour, and I'm sure you're tired, but do you…do you want to sit with me out here for a bit? It's a beautiful night," Lucian murmured, anxious to speak with her. He reckoned that Platina was merely observing him with hesitance, but it took not a second more to hear her clambering out of the blankets covering her body, and start to ready herself out of the window. Lucian watched with mixed reservations, knowing full well that Platina's fragile little frame could not handle even the slightest summer night's breeze.

She took his hand gently and he guided her to the outside, not easing up on the grip in which he steadied her, until her white feet touched the cool ground. Her nightgown drew the illumination of the moon overhead and seemed to glow in the thick darkness pressing against them. Lucian considered holding her hand for just another moment, but he pulled away gently.

"Over here…" he breathed, and for many minutes, he walked and she followed, her light feet padding here and there, filling his ears. Once Platina's house was left in the shadows, she and Lucian took to the trees and threaded their way around on an invisible trail they both once walked daily. It led away from the village and with each step, the trees grew thicker, more twisted and up reaching. Only a small clearing lay ahead, that they both knew well. All at once, the shrubs and over-hangings failed to prevent them from walking, and they emerged in a tiny circle of light, a smooth slab of stone laying in wait in the middle of it.

Lucian was the first to reach it, and nobly, he helped Platina climb onto it. He pulled himself up beside her.

"It's almost blinding," she said, of the moon. The infliction in her voice told Lucian that she was smiling.

"Yes, it is," he agreed, and went on carefully, "I have been asked to go with the men who are making their way to the city, in the morning,"

Platina turned to him and replied cheerfully, "Oh, Lucian that's wonderful! I'm sure that it will be a remarkable experience for you," Lucian closed his eyes and wondered where she picked up the word "remarkable".

"Do you ever regret not being able to be schooled anymore?" he asked suddenly. She paused for a moment and answered, "Well no. Mother needs me at home and it is more fulfilling to me to help my family than to sit in a classroom for the rest of my day. She says that wasting away in that one room for the majority of the seasons, will not do me any good, nor will it teach me to keep house,"

The explanation seemed to satisfy Lucian, who was sure that she was being honest. They fell silent once more, until he felt anxious enough to speak again. "Would you like me to…return with something for you?"

Platina's soft laugh rang out in the night and she said, "I am not in need of anything, Lucian. Mother would scold me if she found out that I was asking you to come bearing gifts,"

"But you're not asking…I am," he said gently, but she didn't reply. For a long time, she said nothing, and Lucian finally turned his head ever so slightly, to glance at her. Platina's head was tilted back, her eyelashes fluttering in the soft, silent wind.

"I'm glad you woke me to see this," he thought he heard her say and all at once her hair broke free from its restraints, and Lucian swore he heard the sound of the ocean crashing against rock as masses of silvery, shimmering hair unwound itself from her plait and blew upward gently, in the night. Lucian was flooded with a sense of watching the blue sea pummel its earthen obstacles and spray into the air upon impact. His heart started to beat all too fast, as Platina seemed to ignore the unravelling of her identity.

Her hair was long and thin and beautiful, cascading all the way down her back and pooling upon the rock. Lucian deftly sunk his fingers into it, and she still did not notice. He thought of a time, many years ago, when Laia had punished Platina for coming home soiled and dirty and flushed with a childlike innocence after spending a day playing near a patch of mud. Platina's hair was chopped a few inches from her roots, and Laia sold the extra feet of hair for a great profit.

It was all there now though.

Lost in thought, Lucian's hazy eyes now recognized the sleeping figure of the girl, only because the silky strands slipped through his fingers as she curled herself upon the rock. Her hands lay flat beneath her face, and her lips were parted, as if she was speaking to something that Lucian could not see.

He watched her for many minutes, like that, and then gently woke her again to escort her back to her house.


	8. Turn Over a New Leaf

Maleah was screaming when Lucian opened his eyes in fright, and sat bolt upright in bed. The sound of her playful giggles then flooded his senses when he realized she was sitting on his bed and slapping his knees with little weak hands.

"What are you doing!" he demanded wearily, in no mood to entertain his sister after being startled so suddenly.

"Trying to wake _you_ up!" more obnoxious giggles. Lucian threw back the blankets in annoyance and scrubbed his face with his hands.

"Oh, come on!" Maleah continued, playing patty-cake on his back. "You get to leave today and _I'm _going to school. Isn't that exciting?"

Lucian turned around and dragged her kicking and screaming beside him. The exchange of words between he and Platina suddenly became familiar to him. "School? What? I thought Mama pulled you out of there already," His hands wandered to her sides and he watched her laugh uproariously as he found her ticklish spots.

"She…she did! But some, some of the other- HEY-kids told me that Teacher wants to continue reading with us every morning," Maleah was red with laughter and continued slapping at his hands, to no avail.

Lucian knitted his brow, perplexed, but said kindly, "Then I can see why you are so rambunctious,"

"Rum-bunk-shus," she repeated and her feet finally hit the floor and she darted out of the room, still laughing. Lucian felt happy for his sister but couldn't help but feel sad in knowing that her reading sessions wouldn't last forever. The time of the season was demanding on every family and after a few days, Lucian knew that the group wound disband, all of the children being asked back to work with their families in the drying, unforgiving heat. He remembered her disappointment in the beginning of spring, the last time it happened.

It took him no more than a few minutes to shed his sleeping gown and climb into his day clothes, hanging from a nail on the wall. He noticed that the bandana strung around his neck was dark with soil and sweat. With trembling fingers, he took it off and placed it in a small, cloth knapsack his father had given him the night before, on top of his folded pyjamas. After a moment's hesitation, he fumbled around in the straw stuffing of his pillow and pulled out two silver coins and a gold.

"You'll eat breakfast on the road," Mama said offhandedly, as she swept into the room and started to tug at the corners of his bed, "The oatmeal jar is low this morning," Lucian brushed past her disinterested, pocketing his money against his chest.

Creeping down the stairs gave him a whole new momentum. Usually, the creek and groan of the strained steps annoyed him; with each plunge closer to the kitchen, he was reminded of one more thing that needed to be mixed within his household. Mama had not taken the dust mop to the floorboards, and Lucian's toes brushed past the grime lodged into the wooden cracks. Still nothing could dishearten him as he pulled on his stockings.

"I want a blue one…" Maleah breathed from behind, and silently tucked a cruddy, brown coin into his palm, slipping back into a chair. Pity seized Lucian's heart as he stared at it and realized that it could buy no more than a near empty jar of sugar. He slipped it in with the rest of his coins as Mama came flying down the steps, Lucian's departure an obvious interruption in her morning tasks.

"I threw in your spare stockings and that tattered garment you like sleeping under. It may be chilly at night," she said crisply, gazing absentmindedly out the window with a broom in hand.

"Thank you Mama," the boy murmured, and stood to fetch his shoes near the door. Standing silent for a moment, he approached her gently and bent forward to kiss her cheek.

She gave no indication that she was aware of him as Lucian once more, climbed the steps to his corner to retrieve his few personal belongings. Before he had one foot out the door, Maleah had leapt from her chair and embraced his waist, a wide, knowing grin on her face.

"Be good, Mally," he said, patting her head affectionately, "and be good for Mama and Father."

With that, Lucian left his house behind for the first time in his life.


	9. The Road to Glory and Prosperity

Lucian was a whirlwind of emotions the moment Coriander was obscured by the trees. From the moment he left the brown, ruddy paths of his village onto the sparse patches of grass leading into the forest, he made a point to look over his shoulder every few steps. Higher and higher the trees climbed and the hand of terror gripped his heart tighter and tighter with each passing glance.

"It's amazing," he murmured, standing with his arms hanging confidently to his sides. Brian had heard him speak and encouraged Lucian's train of thought.

"What is?"

"This…this perspective," the boy answered right away, still intrigued by the vastness of the forest, "I have always ventured off away from my home, into the trees but there was never a sense of…finality. Like this," Brian merely patted his shoulder and kindly led him back around onto their path.

Their destination was to the south-east, Crell Monferaigne. Lucian had knew of it only through stories circulating in the village. Having never visited a kingdom, especially a predominately religious one, his insatiable curiosity only strengthened with each passing day of their journey.

Brian proved to be an excellent travel companion, and a good man that Lucian instantly took a liking to. His hair was long and thin, and usually rested upon Brian's shoulders when he intended to make camp for them for the night. Lucian also came to take an interest in the clothes that he wore, baring no resemblance to the tunics and heavy slacks that was the traditional dress of the residents back in the village. Brian's clothes flowed loosely and he wore thin layers of soft, enchanting colours that proved to be hypnotic. They were uncommon to Lucian.

"Where I come from, everyone dresses the way I do. It is very warm in Hai-Lan, but also traditional. This is typical clothing attire that one might see a swordsman wearing, or a priestess. My niece Ai made these clothes for me with her nimble fingers," Bri explained to him one evening. Lucian felt himself hungering for a new, clean set of clothes, one that resembled Bri's.

The two were also accompanied by a boy named Erik, one that Lucian often worked with in the loggers fields. He was a taller, meeker boy than Lucian, and was a bit older as well. He stayed silent and often lagged behind the other two, stopping silently to observe a flower, or to follow a bird hopping from tree to tree with his eyes. He was kind though Lucian thought he seemed a bit absentminded and distracted.

"Yes I've been out of the village many times," Erik had answered, when Lucian asked him of previous journeys., and then offered nothing more. This was frustrating in itself, especially when Erik would go on to pipe up about anything remotely interesting and foreign to Lucian, and then fall short, as if uncaring.

Nothing could dampen Lucian's excitement though, as the three spanned the entire forest leading southwards into Crellen territory. For several days of hiking, Brian taught Lucian the names of new species of plants and animals; names he had only read in old and rotten books with Maleah. Variation amongst game and plant life was bland and scarce at best around Coriander, and Lucian relished the warmth he felt upon taking in numerous snippets of knowledge gleaned from Brian's history of continental travelling. When the trees thinned and gave way to rock and winding passages through low mountains, Lucian felt as if he had died and was walking through the fabled paradise of Asgard.

"How can people just go about their lives without ever knowing of such wonders?" he once asked his companions, as they slept at the highest peak one evening.

"They do not know of them, for they are little and mountains are great," Erik offered, "such wonders would frighten them, burn fool's ideas and visages into their brains. There is so much to nature and life, that we as sheltered animals would not be able to grasp it all," Lucian was satisfied with the answer and would nod eagerly whenever Erik chimed in flatly.

The last day they spent on the mountain, Bri said to Lucian, "Be sure that you never let a day go by in which you do not think of everything that you experienced in the wilderness. And not just the part where you claimed the earth as your temporary home, but, here,"-and gently clamped a fist to his heart. Lucian bowed his head thoughtfully and his eyes glistened with tears as he thought of the cage he had endured throughout his life; the need for escapism and the opportunity he was experiencing in fathoming it.

It was only a few hours from the mountain when Lucian thought his heart would burst out of his chest when the spires of Crell's ghostly cathedrals melted out of the clouds and stood proudly in the grey sky.


	10. Rise Above the World

It was a kingdom just itching to break free of its earthly chains, yearning to rise into the clouds, closer to the gods it worshipped and prayed to everyday. The desire to worship and to pray was very new, very complex to Lucian and he sat spellbound on pews wherever Bri led him to, just watching with a mad, uncontrollable fury and passion that was impossible to quell. Bri said that Lucian's fascination had little to do with the godly beings that governed the people's lives, and more to do with the people themselves. The boy was ever so spellbound by the noiseless words slipping from their parched lips, the wrinkling of their indifferent, sorrowful faces when they closed their eyes. The painful thud of their knees taking to the floor during intense prayer.

"It is a way of life," Brian whispered to him softly, as they sat observing a small gathering of people, doubled over near a lit altar at the end of a long red carpet.

"I can't understand it," Lucian whispered back, longing to break their trance and ask them all the questions that flooded into his mind. He had a sudden desire to approach one of the worshippers to see if they trembled as they murmured.

"If you try to understand, you never will," Brian had told him, as they turned quietly to leave. "Religion does not require….you to try and understand their way of life. You are a believer of their faith when you understand only by understanding in itself, in knowing,"

"I don't understand," Lucian responded, a half-smile playing upon his lips.

Everywhere that they went, Lucian felt that he was being watched, being haunted by an air of mystique that was perfumed with the scent of crisp, washed fabrics and Gregorian melodies. Indeed, even as he ventured through the streets of the regal, narrow buildings jutting upwards into the clouds, Lucian heard music. It would heighten in volume and then dissipate peacefully. He could never really pinpoint where it was coming from.

The spires and sharp points at the top of every ceremonial tower and structure made him dizzy. As he stood in the middle of the marble market walkways staring into the clouds, residents swished past him in elegant, elaborate dress comprised of simple and light contrasts. Some murmured greetings, others merely stared at him as they passed by.

Lucian loved the evenings best, when the three of them freshened up for bed. Brian had enough coins for a modest (although it was grand to him) large one-bedroom lodging in a small, sleepy inn on the outskirts of the city. Everything in the room was bright and immaculate; the smell of cleanliness overwhelmed him and he was trembling in giddiness when he slipped into bed both nights. The feel of the worn fabric of his nightgown suddenly felt rough and dirty as he slid under the heavy white sheets. The mornings were just as good when he had a chance to bathe privately in a small room stemming off from the one they slept in. There, Lucian washed himself in a marble basin (the feel of cold floor instead of grass as he cleansed, pleased him) and stared at his reflection with misgivings. His face was still soft and youthful, but he detected a barely noticeable path of stubble growing on both sides and on his chin.

The first morning, Bri took he and Erik to the morning market, a much different experience that Lucian was unfamiliar with. All around him, well-to-do people flocked in their pressed dresses and suits, and bargained for their goods. He looked in vain for someone of his stature, but to no avail.

"Why are they here?" Lucian hissed to Erik, disgusted by the pristine state of such an event.

"Because they want to be," the boy whispered back, as they strolled down the middle of the crowd, "they are hunting for goods to elevate their status and their household. They do not shop to sustain and support their family,"

"It's a waste…" Lucian sniffed, as he observed a girl and her mother selecting dresses hanging behind a tight lipped merchant.

"You don't have to sew your own clothing when you have enough money to buy the complete outfit," Erik returned, and branched off to look on his own. Lucian was left standing by himself, people milling around him. After a few moments of turning his eyes over the sea of tables, he approached one.

"How much?" he motioned to a display of colourful fabrics neatly laid out before the merchant. The woman suddenly focused on him and blinked. Forcing a smile, she said, "One silver,"

"That's ridiculous," Lucian breathed, but fished in his pocket.

"Alright, alright," she returned in a rich and unimpressed voice, folding her arms against her breast. "How much do you have?"

Lucian showed her the amount in his hands and she outwardly grimaced. After staring hard at his palm for a few moments, her face softened and she smiled again. Her fingers trailed over the fabric that Lucian was admiring and she held it out to him.

"Think of it as a gift from the Crellen people,"

Lucian shook his head. "I can pay,"

The woman responded with a refusal of her own. "I don't doubt that, but you need a memoir to commemorate your visit to my wonderful city,"

He brushed his hand over the crushed blue velvet strip and hesitated for a moment before looking at the woman merchant. She continued smirking at him, reassuringly.

"Thank you," he said lightly and carefully clutched the paper bag in which the woman placed the trinket in. She nodded politely and immediately turned to another customer.

Lucian wandered back into the street and turned his head from side to side, a bit shaken from the charity given to him. A glimmer in the pale sunlight caught his attention and his heart beat faster as he crept towards another table.

What he saw took his breath away. His heart suddenly ached for Platina.

"These would be perfect…" he said deliriously and fished into his pocket once more.


	11. Delusional Extremities

It was with a heavy heart beating wildly, that Lucian slowly made his way back into Coriander. His eyes were hazy with disappointment with each small step out of the woods, and the muck from the morning's rain sucked greedily at his shoes. The village was barren and deserted, but the smells of breakfast and crackling fires wafted into his nostrils, and he knew that there were many people expecting to see them, to enquire about the collective small travelers groups that had yet to return.

Shuffling onto the main road, Bri came up behind him and untied the bundle strapped to his back. "I return with a load not much lighter than the one I left with," he sighed good-naturedly, looking around.

"I'm sorry for that," Lucian said flatly, and spun around to face him.

"Don't worry my boy, I am more than well-off for a man of my age. A city alive with God and discipline hardly desires the blades I want to sell to them," he replied.

"I think you're right," the boy said and let the cloth packs strapped to his back slip down into the dirt.

"Leaving so soon?" Brian smiled, his grey hair matted down into his eyes by the dampness in the air.

"I think it's best…especially since I still feel like I need to, need to just get away from this place. But I guess that will have to come another time," Lucian sniffed, picking out his precious few items out of Brian's equipment, and slinging them over his shoulder.

"And it will!" the older man smiled.

"Be well, Lucian," Erik offered quietly, and Lucian started towards his house.

As he walked, villagers spilled out of their houses and started milling about on the streets. The fog was parting and giving way to cool, pale sunshine that made the puddles sparkle as Lucian made his way down the road. His ears pricked up instinctively as he passed Platina's house, but she was nowhere to be seen.

The latch was pushed back and he stood in the frame of the door, with a meek smile on his face.

"Lucy, Lucy, LUCY!" Maleah shrieked and jumped away from her chair to rush to him. Lucian was flooded with happiness and he eagerly caught her in his arms and picked her up, laughing.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that? It's so EMBARRASSING!" he scolded teasingly, rubbing his nose against hers and she beat at his shoulders with her little hands.

"Shut the door Lucian, you're letting the heat out," his mother sighed, up to her elbows in dishwater near the oven. Lucian set down Maleah and moved into the house, closing the door behind him.

"What have you got for us?" Father asked, a cracked teacup to his lips. He set it gently upon the table again and sat looking straight ahead.

"I, well with the amount I had I got a package of the best hot drink you can ever imagine," Lucian declared, setting it upon the table in front of Father. "All the nobles in Crell are drinking it, and it just flows like wine. I didn't get it for much,"

Mama rushed over and observed the package with her husband. "What does it say?" she asked impatiently. Father ran his finger down the side of the smooth paper covering the contents and replied, "All the nobles, eh…" Lucian noted that he was pleased.

"I also picked up a few spools of yarn, Mama. There were so many colours!" Lucian produced five bulging sticks of yarn, each colour prettier and enchanting than the last. Mama gasped in surprise and her face paled. None of the colours were visible in the house, and indeed, in most of the village. She picked them up gently, one by one, saying nothing.

"Everyone there buys their own clothes. Even the poor, the ones like us, don't pay much for delicacies like this! It's so common…"

"They don't know what they have," Mama replied with an intense fury, cradling the spools to her breast. She hurried away into the next room, carrying them.

"All this for what you had?" Father asked pointedly, focusing on his tea.

Lucian hesitated and said, "Well Brian helped me find the best prices and bickered with the merchants…"

"The hell he did," Father spat quietly, not looking at him. Lucian looked down at Maleah, feeling uncomfortable. She just stared at him with her wide eyes. After several moments of silence, Lucian slipped past the stony face of his parent and ascended the stairs to his bed. Maleal followed him and closed the door behind her.

"Did you…did you?" she whispered.

Lucian said nothing, concentrating intently on hanging up his nightgown, and the bandana he had bought himself. He angrily ripped off the one around his neck and tied the new one on.

"Lu…Lucian?"

He scrubbed his face with his hands and forced a smile into his palms. Then he turned around.

"Of course I did, Miss. Mally. How could I just forget?"

Her lips turned up into one of the widest grins Lucian had ever seen and he pulled the paper bag out of his cloths. It took no more than a second for Maleah to slip her hand inside and rip out the material. Lucian had to press his hands to her mouth when he realized she meant to scream in delight.

"Be quiet about that, okay?" he said firmly, and she nodded against his hands. He let go.

"Lucian!" she hissed in disbelief.

"It wasn't as much as you think. Actually…"

"It's so pretty!" she whispered, holding it up and looking at it from all sides.

"Big enough so you can tie it in your hair for years," Lucian insisted, sitting down on his bed.

"And it's blue too!" There were tears glistening in her eyes. Lucian noted with disdain that Maleah's current colours- a pale grey set against her straw blonde hair- did not become her. Nothing she ever wore did.

"Don't show Mama OR Father. Just…put the ribbon under your dress when you go to your reading and wear it out of sight," Lucian told her, and she nodded vigorously, holding the piece to her chest.

"I love it so much!" she giggled softly, pressing it now against her cheek, and revealing in the softness.

Lucian was still glowing with pride when she dashed behind the sheet separating their beds, to hide it for another day.


	12. The Counterfeit Self

It seemed as if everyone was aware of Lucian's arrival, one he set foot into the fields for the day. The sun managed to climb its way fully into the sky and the clammy feeling clinging to the air lifted, bringing forth the usual dry and relentless heat.

It was welcomed though, since the village had been pelted with rain for two days while Lucian was clambering his way back through the trees. It was as if the water washed away the exhaustion, grime and frustration that permeated the entire village and its people. Some actually smiled to each other, on that day.

Much to Lucian's delight, a crowd of the young fellows he worked with immediately abandoned their work when they caught sight of him. Some of the older men huffed about it, but straightened up and looked at him keenly with interest. Lucian's peers demanded stories and tales he had picked up while journeying with Brian, a stranger, and staying within the hallowed gates of Crell Monferaigne.

"Everything is so clean, like a place for everything and everything in its place," he had told them as they sat before him on logs scattered about the work area. Their fathers took care not to pollute Lucian's storytelling with noise and gently walked about with no purpose in mind, just listening.

"The people there pray to a god that I'm not familiar with. You should see them kneeling and just talking, talking to the ceiling above them! I don't know whether to laugh or bow my head to them in respect,"

The boys in front of him leaned forward in fascination, shooting off questions, and occasionally they collective laughed and roared together, and Lucian felt himself enjoying the attention they showered upon him. Eventually though they scattered, as Jerad, who oversaw the logging of the area, infiltrated their conversation circle by shaking a tree branch at them menacingly, demanding that they get back to work.

"It was just a…a life changing experience," Lucian went on, telling one of the boys beside him, as he hacked away at a tree trunk.

"Not gonna find much of them here," the boy laughed, wiping his sweaty forehead. Lucian laughed too, but felt sorry for him.

All through the day, Lucian was greeted by many villagers he did not know; some of the wives visited the fields, their pails full of refreshing well water. As some of the workers slowed to take a break, they drifted over to talk to Lucian, or to give him a friendly pat on the shoulder.

"I'll have something new to tell my wife tonight," one of the men smiled, as he passed the boy. Lucian practically burst with giddiness. He had to tell many people though, that he was unsure of when the larger groups that had set off some time after them, comprised of the village's leading officials and elders, would return. They carried most of the village's funds, and Lucian's return only fuelled the people's desires to see some of their men folk return with new and much needed supplies and goods. Even though Lucian had nothing for those who were excited to speak with him, he still felt that he gave much to those around him that day.

In the midst of the excitement in talking, most of boys his age abandoned their duties and stood around in large groups. Their fathers followed suit when they realized there was no reigning them in. Lucian noticed that Erik was one of the handful that kept to their work despite all of the discussion going between various people.

"Isn't she looking for you, Lucian?" one of the boys said. All at once, the five or so he was standing with turned and looked and Lucian saw Platina hurrying onto the field, looking dishevelled and beat. Her hair was loose from her plait and a red flush emanated from her white face.

"Guess the wench overworked herself today," and all of them laughed. Lucian suddenly stopped smiling, anger boiling inside of his stomach.

"Forget it Lu," another one roared, "I doubt her mama even sat her down to have the talk of life. No good for baby making, that one," and the group erupting into bursts of heavy, uncontrolled laughter. Lucian felt his face grow hot with embarrassment and he looked at his feet as a couple of the young men slapped his shoulders playfully, still howling as Platina drew closer.

Lucian watched unblinking, as she wound her way through the crowds, looking for him. When their eyes met, he shoved his sweaty palms into his pockets, uncomfortable and she smiled nervously at him. The boys beside him were doubled over and howling, adding on to the string of vulgarity.

Her gaze rested upon them and she suddenly stopped, putting a hand to the side of her face, self consciously.

"Aww look at that, she rushed all this way just to give you a sip from her pail!" the comment was loud enough to be heard by Platina and Lucian cringed inwardly as her face went crimson red and she began to back away in embarrassment. The ground was still damp from the showers of the night before and her little feet slipped as she went to spun around. Lucian's heart sank as her knees sunk into a patch of soft, yellow grass. The laughter all around him burned into his brain as Platina awkwardly pulled herself up and limped away, her braid flopping behind her.

Someone clapped Lucian on the shoulder, but he was numb to everything else from then on.


	13. Distortions in the Void of Despair

"They say it was bandits," Father announced flatly, his strong arms folded to his chest. His gaze was frozen ahead, staring out the kitchen window onto the street.

Lucian sagged in his chair and covered his eyes with one hand. "I can't believe that," he pushed back his seat and started to pace in disbelief, "Brian, Erik and I had absolutely NO trouble getting through those woods. We didn't see a soul,"

"That's because you were travelling with a trained swordsman, Lucian," Mama said gently.

"What! I know Brian had some background in that kind of stuff but he gave no indication that he was…better than he let on," Lucian punctuated every word with a furious gesture of his hands, "Besides, his swords were wrapped up tight on his back. How would anyone watching us know that he is dangerous?"

"He's been in this neck of the woods many times, son. He's no stranger to those kind of people," Father replied, in the same monotone voice he used before, and quietly walked past them and out the door.

"So, so what? Do we just lay in wait for starvation to do us in? Where the hell do we get our food now?" Lucian demanded.

"I don't know, Lucian!" His mother shrieked harshly, placing two hands flat on the table and taking a deep breath.

"I will not have another summer like the one we lived through two years ago. We were miserable and Maleah got sick. Nine people died, four of them children!" Lucian went on in a rage, and his mother closed her eyes tightly.

"I'm going back through those woods to see if we can recover anything we lost. Those thugs can't get very far with all those wagons," he said, striding to the door and his Mama called him back.

"No!" and she walked up to Lucian, a hard and wild look in her eyes, "The villagers who didn't get away were probably slaughtered and robbed. You can do nothing!"

Lucian stared at her quietly, and then stormed through the doorway onto the street, in a fury, brushing past a couple black-robed strangers heading toward his house. Delivering the bad news officially to every household, no doubt.

Coriander was no longer beaming with an atmosphere of good will and celebration. The news of the failed trek spread like wildfire, and all around him, people dragged their feet and walked toward no destination in particular. They gazed about hungrily, like the undead.

Lucian periodically stopped and asked people where Brian was, but the family he was staying with said he had left earlier in a hurry. They didn't know where he went off to.

The sun burned brightly, overhead. Everything was the same as the day before when Lucian was deemed as a hero. Now others merely looked through him. There were no greetings.

"How could something so needed, go so wrong?" he thought, as he shuffled along slowly, kicking at the dirt under his feet, "why did this have to happen? Yesterday, everything was perfect…"

Lucian shoved his fists in his pockets as he passed Platina's house. He turned his head and looked for her, catching a glimpse of blue hair towards the side of their shack. Her dress sleeves were rolled up and her feet were covered in soil. Laia seemed to be barking orders from inside. He was grateful her back was to him, and hurried on.

As if sensing his presence nearby, Platina straightened up and turned around, her hands dirtied and holding gardening tools. Her lovely delicate face melted into a sad frown when she saw him and she quickly moved out of site.

Lucian bowed his head and kept walking, looking side to side at the crestfallen and disappointed faces. He joined them in thinking of the coming onslaught of starvation, sickness and cold nights.


	14. Fantasy and Reality Intermingled

There was no moon that night, when Lucian tapped on the ledge of Platina's window. He couldn't see the gleam of her hair or the outline of her figure nestled underneath too few sheets.

"Platina, wake up, it's me, Lucian," he whispered, pushing his hand in and searching for hers.

All of a sudden she jumped in surprise, pulling back with a frightened gasp, and Lucian could barely separate the darkness from her eyes.

"What are you doing here?" she called softly, pulling her knees up to her chest.

"Please…I want to talk to you," he begged. Any other person may have spat at him in anger, but Platina merely sighed in weariness and accepted the hand he offered her. They didn't speak when her feet touched to the ground, nor did he let go of her hand. The lawn was littered with small gardening trinkets and they were menacing dark objects set upon the shadowy ground. Lucian helped Platina walk carefully around them, and once more they set off to the small, quiet clearing in the woods behind her house.

"You laughed at me," she whispered sadly, when he helped her climb upon the stone.

"I wasn't laughing," he returned quickly, a break in his voice, and he struggled to meet her gaze in the dark. When he was sure she was settled comfortably, he climbed up beside her, but instead of letting his legs dangle over the edge like hers, he sat cross-legged facing her. She seemed not to notice.

"You were with so many who were," she sniffed.

"I promise you Platina, I had no intention of listening to them. I didn't believe any of it," he croaked, absentmindedly reaching up and tucking loose hair behind her ears. She closed her eyes to his touch, or maybe because she didn't believe him.

"Why did you not come to me then? Why did you stay with them as they…said those things?"

Lucian let his hand fall into his lap and he bowed his head, "I don't know, I was just so stunned and overwhelmed I…I don't know why I stood there and listened," He could feel sobs rising in his throat and yet Platina remained still and calm, looking into the darkness.

"This is a village of evil," she breathed in despair, and several silent minutes passed.

Lucian still had his head down when her small white hand glided over his, and stayed there. He looked up suddenly, and her face was turned to his, her posture poised and proper, and he, slumped down and forward. She seemed so still, so regal and shame flooded through every part of him.

"I have dreams of leaving this place," she went on, in the same, melodic tone of voice that she never used outside of the clearing, "of just flying high up and letting the wind take me wherever it goes. To be free and without purpose…I look through the eyes of the body my dreams give me and I experience the life I should have had, away from the fight for material possessions and survival,"

"Platina…" Lucian began and she shook her head, silencing him.

"Sometimes I lose all sense of direction of my life here in Coriander. I could never wish ill on anyone, nor damn the path I have travelled so far. But just…those few sometimes I…I think of what might have been. I feel as if there are parts of me yearning to break free of this, this earthly chain," she cried softly, looking down at herself, "then I would truly be able to live the way that I feel I was meant to,"

Lucian could make out her face in the dark, her mouth parted slightly in fright. His heart beat fast for her.

"Then why…why don't you?"

A tear glistened down her cheek and she said, barely audible, "Because these feelings frighten me sometimes. I feel as if they aren't mine, as if I shouldn't be having them. I don't know what to think because they take me to a place for a small time in which I can truly rest and be myself…but then I think of all the people here…you, and my mother of course. How can I just leave this world behind? So many people need me…"

"No one needs you Platina, that's the reality of it," Lucian cried with her and softly wiped the lone tear away from her cheek, "everyone here just takes advantage of you. That's how this village thrives,"

"But if no one needs me, then why do I have any reason to stay…? Why can't I just leave this place then…?" her voice was shrill and weak and unsteady now.

"Because I need you," Lucian whispered, letting his hand linger on the side of her face, "and you know that. You've known me ever since you were born and we're still here, together,"

"Yes," she said, sniffling.

Lucian pulled his hand away gently and reached into the pockets at his sides. "When I was away, you never left my mind," he breathed, and pulled out two small objects that glistened in his flattened palm. Platina regarded him with curiosity.

"What are…what are these?" she asked meekly.

"Something beautiful, that many of the women in Crell wear," he answered vaguely, enjoying her reaction. She leaned forward and touched them gently.

"Why, Lucian…they're earrings! Mother has a set, though not as grand as these, and…" she trailed off and searched his eyes for an answer.

"They're yours," he finished. She pulled away and gasped, hands pressed against her lips. When she lowered them away she said, "Mine?"

"Yes, I just said that," he laughed softly and held out his hand to her, nodding.

"They cost everything I had. Everything. I saw them and thought of you. They're made from the light blue crystals found in Hai-Lan. They reminded me of your hair," he explained, and pulled Platina's hands forward.

"But…I have no holes in my ears," she wept, and Lucian again laughed softly, and dared to press his face against her bowed head. After a moment's hesitation, he kissed the top of her head and drew his face back, as she slowly looked up in wonder.

"They don't go through your ears. They clip on tightly. Just watch," Lucian let go of her hands and Platina sat up straight. Moving more loose hair that had escaped from her plait, he nimbly unfastened the claps on the back of jewels and clamped them onto her ear. She laughed softly as they snapped on, and moved her head from side to side when he was finished.

"They feel wonderful. New, but wonderful," she smiled, as the small crystals dangling through her ears glistened in the dark. When she was done shaking her head playfully, she took his hand again and said, "Oh thank you, Lucian. I've never…never had anything like this before. Nothing has ever been given to me,"

"I know," he whispered. The slight, pleasant ache in his body suggested that they were speaking of an entirely different subject altogether. The race in his heart knew so, when Platina slowly let herself lower back onto the stone's surface. Lucian lowered with her, laying on his side, her head cradled in the crook of his arm.

For a long, long while, their hearts beat together as one as she lay sleeping beside him, her earrings resting against her smooth marble face. From time to time he even trailed his fingers against her cheeks.


	15. Mighty Blow

When Lucian slipped back into his house after escorting Platina through her window, he found Father and Mama sitting at the table waiting for him. There was a single candle lit on the table and they were staring into it intently.

Lucian leaned back against the door after he latched it, nervously, fumbling for an explanation.

"Nice night to be out with the neighbour's daughter," Mama spat harshly, her arms folded tightly against her. Lucian noted the black circles under her eyes and the puffiness of her cheeks.

"Is…is something wrong, Mama?" he asked timidly, beginning to approach her, but Father stood up and he froze.

"All your evening disappearances have been for nothing. Whenever I hear the door shut at night I think that it's because you have gone off to correct your mistakes made during your daytime work," his gruff voice was unforgiving and strangely tense.

"But instead you've been thinking of yourself!" Mama shrieked, throwing her chair back. Lucian flattened himself against the door once more, frightened by her sudden, angry outburst.

"You're going to wake Maleah," he breathed unevenly, and suddenly eyed his parents with renewed scrutiny, "how is that for thinking of yourself? Quit badgering me!"

Mama looked at him sharply, her eyes wide and bulging out of her head. She trembled noticeably. "Just go to bed," she hurled at him savagely, and stomped out of the kitchen and disappeared into the next room. Lucian heard her crawl into bed. Father rubbed his thumb against the scruff on his chin and didn't seem to notice Lucian in the room.

The boy slipped past him and took to the stairs, using every ounce of control he had to shut the door quietly. He latched it, called out a soft goodnight to Maleah on the other side of the sheet and crawled onto his bed, in a rage.

When Lucian opened his eyes, sunlight streamed through his window. His mouth felt dry and spongy. It took a moment to think why he was still in his day clothes. Yawning and sitting up, he noticed that the sun was higher than usual.

He slept in late. Mama had left a bowl of soapy water on his bed table, and Lucian took a cloth to his face. It did little to wash away the dirty mood he was in.

Lucian's feet felt sluggish as he went down the stairs, hovering on each step in a daze. Slowly, his mother came into view. She was sitting at the table, alone. The windows were all open and a refreshing summer breeze hit Lucian's damp face. It felt good.

"Why didn't you call me?" he asked sullenly, heading to the stove to heat up the oatmeal Mama made every morning. There was a pot more than half full and Lucian doubled over to shove a few sticks in the oven. Then quickly he stood up, scratching his head.

"Why is there so much?" he asked, and looked to Mama pointedly. She was still sitting quietly, a deep frown melted onto her face, her brows pressing down to the sides of her cheeks. "Didn't Mal-"

Lucian let go of the sticks and opened his mouth to speak. Mama merely stared at him.

The silence that ensued made Lucian's ears feel like they were bleeding.

The lingering numbing contentment he had experienced the night before with Platina, fled his body and cold sickness settled into his stomach. Still Mama said nothing.

Lucian exhaled and then forced himself not to breath after that. With all the control and calmness he could muster, he asked, "What did you do with my sister?"

Mama burst into tears and it took less than a second for Lucian to fly over to where she sat and to pound his fists upon table beside her. She started screaming and Lucian started yelling, cursing, shooting off every string of threats he had heard in his lifetime, bending down and pressing his lips as close to her ear as he dared.

"WE HAD NO CHOICE!" were the words that ended it and all of a sudden the house was quiet, save for Mama's gentle weeping as she pressed her fingers to her trembling lips. Lucian's fists were still upon the table and he was bent awkwardly to her head, his mouth parted but saying nothing.

He pulled himself back and whirled himself into a chair. His heart raced and was paining him, and his knees were too rubbery to keep him standing. He rested one of his arms on the table, and his hands twitched. For many minutes, they sat like that, Mama huddled over and sobbing into her hand and Lucian staring off into space, remembering all the times Maleah secretly sat down with him after dark and showing her books to him so that he could learn to read.

"No money is worth the innocence of a child," he said, surprised by the steadiness of his voice.

Mama said nothing.

"I SAID-"

"I HEARD YOU!" she screamed, shaking her fists at him. She let them fall onto the table, and stared at them, delirious.

Lucian stood up with a force so great, his chair flew back and hit the oven, two legs shattering. Mama looked up in fright, but he was already behind her, a strong hand on her shoulder. She shrieked when he spun her body around with that hand, and the scared, pitiful old face of his father's wife stared up at him, pleading.

"The answer you give to my question," Lucian murmured menacingly, "determines whether you live to accept the consequences of your actions or not,"

She nodded, fresh tears flooding from her terrified eyes, and he continued. "Where is Maleah?"

"_I DON'T KNOW!_" she cried, her entire body convulsing into shudders, "t-the men came yesterday and and and offered a good price! I f-figured I couldn't say no especially after hearing of the f-f-failure of the expedition! Lucian there was nothing I could _do!_"

"LIAR!" Lucian shouted in her face and let go of her. She continued crying, her face pressed to the table.

"Father knew?" he asked darkly.

"Y-yes, he agreed to it. I-I didn't dare even think of it if he was against it…"

Lucian was overwhelmed by a fresh wave of hatred for his father.

"It was the men in black who took her," he realized, tasting salt as tears pooled over his upper lip. Mama cried harder.

Lucian stared at the back of her head for another moment through blurry eyes. Sniffing back more tears, he thundered out the door, satisfied that she had nothing else to provide.

His vision flooded with seething red as he cursed his household with every word he knew. He saw nothing, and no one as he followed the road away from his house, determined never to go back.

A sliver of blue caught his eye, snagged in the yellow coarse grass patches lining the stone wall on the side of the street. Lucian dropped to his knees in fright, and fumbled blindly until the hair ribbon was in his hands. He shoved it into his nostrils, sniffing hungrily.

Of course it was Maleah's.

Lucian's head struck the stone wall a second later as his body went limp, but he was already unconscious.


	16. Hopeless Resolution

"Blade art…"

At first, things looked so pretty. It was almost as if being showered with golden light, so mesmerized that he could detect an array of colours melting in and out of it, blurring and then becoming all too real again.

"Senko Jin!"

Lucian opened his eyes.

Sunlight poured harshly onto his face, and he closed them again.

"We have been worried," a voice said, and Lucian's eyes fluttered open, only a squint this time. Brian suddenly came into view, smiling down on him. A wave of nausea crept into the pits of Lucian's stomach. He made no effort to move.

"It has been nine days since you have…" Brian started, a sword in his hands, and perspiration budding on his forehead. He sat down next to Lucian's head.

"A girl named Platina found you, on the side of the road. She only knew, for no one else took care to see if you were dead or alive. There was word you had fallen,"

Lucian groaned, and he shut his eyes to block the incoming glare. He heard a splash of water and then a deliciously cold and wet cloth was laid across forehead.

"When I heard that you were hurt, I rushed to where you were laying. Your villagers watched me with darkened faces as I slowly lifted and carried you back here," he went on, carefully rubbing at Lucian's pale, sickened face, "and you've been with me ever since,"

Brian removed the cloth and Lucian opened his eyes. His tongue felt spongy and he realized that he was aching to relieve the cracked, irritated permeating his mouth. Brian sensed this quickly and lifted a shallow bowl and Lucian thirstily pressed his lips to the edge, eagerly taking in cool water. Brian filled it three times before the boy let his head slump back onto the pillow.

"I went to your parents and told them what happened. Your Father…eh, well he didn't seem to mind that I was going to help you,"

"Maleah," Lucian croaked, and felt his body tremble in exhaustion. Brian pressed his palms to his cross legs quietly and then said softly, "I killed the ones I found, Lucian. There were no wagons or children in sight,"

Lucian erupted into a fit of sobs and Brian quickly pressed the cloth to his face again, silencing him.

"They must have gotten to everyone long before they grew close to Coriander. The remains of supplies and the…the struggle of the takeover is lost somewhere deep in the forest. I didn't go very far,"

Lucian willed himself on his side, so he could wipe his tears on his pillow. He became transfixed with the blade laid flat in front of Brian's feet. It looked cold and metallic, exactly the way Lucian felt inside. He wanted to press his cheek against it.

"I think that your village is suddenly very against my staying here," the man went on, somewhat regretfully. "I should like it if you come with me when I leave this place,"

Lucian wanted to scream yes, to nod vigorously. Instead, he felt a sort of dull uplifting feeling flood into his body. It was enough to know that he wanted to go and to never return.

Just like Maleah had.


	17. Fragments of the Heart

Lucian saw her, emerging from the woods behind her house. Her platinum hair shone in the waning sunlight and her small face looked from side to side; her eyes spying for anyone who just might see her. He crept from behind the tree and stood waiting for her, a wide basket being carried in front of her, loaded with small, fresh apples.

"Lucian…" she breathed and set down her load, gently throwing her arms around him. He embraced her readily, resting his face against her hair and pressing her delicate frame hidden by layers of robes, to his own.

"You….you shouldn't be looking for me," she cried, and pulled back to face him, "you should be resting. Please. I don't want to see you like that, again,"

He nodded understandably, but ignored her comments. "I need you to come away with me,"

Platina's head tilted to the side, in confusion. "Is this some sort of…joke?" she asked quickly, letting him go. Lucian's weakening spirit immediately felt crushed, and he looked to the ground.

"Nothing," he retracted, wishing he had never said anything at all. He looked up again, met her frightened gaze and knew he wasn't staring at the Platina he met in the moonlight. She was like a little rabbit, drawing back and huddled against the late summer breeze. Lucian almost resented her for it, right then.

"Are you alright…?" she asked timidly, "I haven't spoken to you since Brian took me to see you when you were recovering that time," She came forward as if to touch his face but he took a step back.

"Just…everything's different now" he said flatly, his heart beating fast and hurting. She let her hand fall in defeat, and blinked at him. He turned to dart back into the trees.

"Where are you going?" she called after him, sadly.

"Back to Brian. He's been teaching me how to use a sword for the past three weeks. Good recovering technique," he threw over his shoulder, off-handily. A flush of shame came to his cheeks as he stared into the woods, angry with himself for the way he spoke to her.

"That's not what I meant," she returned softly.

After a few critical seconds of silence, he turned and said, "No where,"

Her eyes were alive with thanks and fear. Slowly she bent down and eased her hands around the basket of fruit. He looked at it intently.

"Mother Laia discovered it last year, deep in the trees," she explained quietly.

"You haven't told anyone?" he asked suspiciously.

"Of course not," she returned, threatened by his tone.

Again, they stared at each other tensely, until Lucian finally said, "Be careful," With a nod of her head, she left him.

He made his way back to barn Brian had lived in for his entire time in Coriander. The villagers who had graciously invited them into their household now very rarely said a word to him. He said he was content and the animals didn't bother him in the loft, where he slept.

"I can't go with you," Lucian sighed, when he climbed up into the hay. Brian was sitting comfortably in one dark corner. Outside, the sky had clouded over and the barn seemed unusually welcoming.

"What is it?" the man asked casually.

"I can't leave her," the boy said angrily.

"Ah, so you mean you can't go with me without her," Brian was focused intently on taking apart what Lucian came to know as a katana.

"Well yes," Lucian crept onto a blanket Brian had given him the day he had awoke, weeks ago. It was plush and full and very unlike anything Lucian had slept under in his entire life.

"Sounds like love," Brian offered, still occupied.

Lucian knit his brow and replied, "Sounds like stupidity. She always talks about wanting to be 'free', whatever that is. And the second I offer her a chance to leave this hellhole, she freezes,"

"Have you not thought about the fact that Coriander is the only world she's ever known?"

Lucian gestured furiously with his hands, scoffing, "It was for me too, up until last month. But still, that was only for a few days. _This_ is the only place I've lived in, and yet I'm not afraid to leave,"

"I don't think the problem is she not wanting to go with you. I think you're angry at yourself for knowing that you can't bring yourself to go without her," Brian suggested, and Lucian looked sharply at him. The older man still sat comfortably, a set of spectacles placed across the bridge of his nose as he carefully, wiping down all parts of his dismantled weapon.

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Nothing," Brian told him.

Silence ensued, and Lucian was suddenly fed up with talking. He slumped himself down upon a pillow and pulled the blanket over him.

Rain had begun to fall.


	18. The Nonsense of Reality

Lucian awoke in such a fury that he felt as if his heart would beat right out of his chest. Nothingness enveloped his gaze and for one fleeting moment he felt as if he would die in fright.

And then he remembered.

Just the barn.

The lanterns had been extinguished. He could hear the soft, steady breathing of Brian on the other side of the loft. Torrential waters pelted the walls all around him, and below, Lucian heard the frightened bleating of a lamb.

All at once he decided he was leaving. The memory of his uneventful discussion with Brian filled Lucian with such an anger that he couldn't bare being in his company anymore. He would make his way back to Crell by himself, without the help of a cryptic, old cracker.

When his eyes became accustomed to the dark, Lucian felt around for things he had placed in the hay, and placed them in a small, clasped bag that Brian had given him. Stuffing in things that also didn't belong to him, when the bag was full he forced it shut and quickly got to his knees.

Still, Brian slept.

A glimmer caught his attention and Lucian looked at a thick bundle blanketed upon a stack of hay lining the wall behind Brian. He remembered why Brian travelled, and why he seemed so secure with his life.

The swords.

Lucian carefully crawled across to where Brian slept, with his blood thudding against his ears. Quietly, he put aside his belongings for a moment and shakily reached over and placed a hand on the blanket, drawing it back. About a dozen elegant scabbards seemed to gleam in the dark. Lucian squinted his eyes and pushed a couple quietly aside, groping for his favourite. Then he would assess if he had the will to take anymore to sell.

He screamed when a warm, death-gripping hand pulled his wrist and all of a sudden Lucian was sent plummeting onto his back. Brian looked down at him, his brows furrowed in anger and his eyes dark from the shadows.

"I gave you all that I had," he whispered furiously, "and still you wish to double cross me? Have you learned nothing from the tragedy you have endured?"

He pulled Lucian up by his shirt and shook him. "Even one who has lived in the darkness such as you, cannot be pulled back into the light. You are incorrigible!"

Lucian choked out a sob and fought the lump in his throat in effort to say something, anything.

"You will not take one of my sabres! Now get out of my sight!" and Lucian was flung against the floor again. Dejected, he threw himself at the ladder and hurriedly climbed, missing the last two rungs and falling all the way down. With a frightened cry, he picked himself up and struggled to find the door. As he tore it open, he heard Brian call something into the stormy night.

"Thief!"

"I'm not a thief!" Lucian cried out in the dark as he ran. The rain came down in buckets, drenching, pelting, attacking him as he fumbled along the side of the road, holding himself in terror. It took seconds for the water to reach to his bones, and a furious chill set in, making his teeth chatter. Thunder rumbled overhead and lightning illuminated his broken reflection in the puddles he stumbled into.

"Why couldn't I have been born as someone else!" He screamed into the air, his mouth open in a snarl, fists clenched tightly and shaking upwards to the sky.

He howled and screamed to the village of the damned until time and sanity slipped from his shaken reality.


	19. Black Blinding Nightmare

"Wake up, _WAKE UP!"_

Lucian groaned and rubbed a hand over his eyes.

"What is this, a new hobby? Get the hell out of here and stop passing out on other people's property!" the man had Lucian in an iron grip and pulled him out of the woodshed. Lucian had no time to recover the feeling in his legs and he was up and then down just as quickly, banging his knees.

Heart beating wildly, Lucian yawned and scrubbed at his face. He got up and then started shuffling down the road, kicking at the wet stones in his path. His clothes were damp and sticking to his skin, making him tremble. His stomach growled hungrily.

The village was alive and awake for a day of backbreaking work. Nothing was interesting to him anymore and he walked without purpose, up and down the entire village for the entire morning. A villager spat at him once, and Lucian laughed and kicked up dirt in his direction, uncaring. He watched with unyielding arrogance and hatred as he saw the many figures in the distance on the logging field. They didn't see him.

Around noon-time, Lucian had no qualms lifting a loaf of bread and a pitcher of milk from an unsuspecting merchant. He had half the load devoured and milk gone by the time the market crowd kicked up a fuss and several people took off after him. Lucian burst into a run, but not before hurling the empty glass at them (which shattered, causing many to scream) and mutilating the bread with his hands and cruelly throwing the crumbs into the sky. He managed to elude them by dodging into a group of trees when he came to them, and then spent much of the afternoon recharging underneath the sun.

All day long Lucian thought of Platina. He reflected upon the fact that his adventure was over after one taste of the real world.

His house was broken and in shambles, as he no longer had the desire to keep up and fuel the illusion his parents had weaved for so long.

Maleah was gone and the soul she once was had been snuffed out the day she was sold into slavery.

The only real guardian and friend Lucian had was long gone and moving away from him with every passing second.

"Platina…" he whispered softly. Suddenly, with the void in his heart acknowledged, the vision of the girl who had recently turned one year older, seemed so pleasurable to him. He traced over every detail of her face that he had studied for so long. His thoughts ventured into a new and exciting territory that left him scarlet in his cheeks but his heart ached longingly with love.

His eyes scanned the clearing sky as he thought of the blue tint to her hair, the inky blackness to her-

Lucian sat up.

Black?

His eyes had roamed down back to the ugliness that emanated from the village.

In the distance, there in the middle of the road stood a very familiar sight.

Lucian's body came alive with hate and he dashed forward to the line of trees, concealing himself and straining his ears to the dialogue being exchanged.

"Just get her away as soon as you can."

Lucian recognized the harshness of the voice.

It was Laia, Platina's mother. A cold sickness swept over him.

"You seem to suggest as if her ability to complete her duties are…inadequate," A slick, calm voice. Lucian tasted bile.

"I'm not suggesting anything!" Laia shrieked again, "I'm just tired of the extra mouth under my roof. My husband hardly makes enough for the two of us, I'm sick of having to share my meals with an unappreciative child who is nothing more than a thorn in my side,"

"Very well then, Miss," the other voice, this time.

"I expect a fair pair, she _does_ come with all the skills and household managing talents that I passed on to her. I will miss her work, but not her stomach,"

"We understand. It will take another day to make the arrangements. We'll call for transportation immediately,"

Lucian spat and slowly inched himself up against the tree trunk he hid behind. His legs were shaken, but he looked forward with a determination that scared him, motivated him.

In that moment, nothing mattered anymore. Nothing but the present was real, and Lucian sighed in exasperation as his body was washed clean of everything that came before the moment of knowing Platina's fate. He couldn't believe how easy it was to let go…but he was numb with delirium because of it.

He would save Platina at nightfall, concealed by the cloak of darkness.


	20. Ending the Spiral

Lucian crept through the shadows that swallowed the village entirely, for many nights to come after that. His presence was shared only with the passing squirrels darting through the trees, and the occasional flock that greeted him with the morning sunrises. He watched the flicker of silver inside the house through a distance. Every morning, she was there.

His heart ached with heaviness.

Every morning, he came to realize his brows were knit in confusion and anger due to the uneventful, long watches he took, every night. The moment he saw her frail figure creep quietly onto the streets was the moment he stumbled away; weary and eager for a morning of sleep somewhere.

As he walked along, threading through the trees, he would ask himself, "Why? Why haven't they come? Did they not take Maleah by dawn?"

He reflected upon the fact that perhaps Platina was a timid, shy soul that would not necessarily defy her fate and thereupon cause a ruckus at that crucial moment. In his heart though, Lucian knew that Maleah's capture was much different- she would have bitten back.

"Maleah was taken at night, she had to have been," Lucian told himself angrily, shaking his head. "Otherwise, someone would have seen or heard. Someone could have told me,"

With no other evidence to pursue, Lucian always slipped back to Platina's window at night, waiting for the black strangers, his mouth always parted and ready to just tell her, tell her that she was about to be stolen.

But after weeks of waiting by her bedside silently, they never came.

After weeks of waiting by her bedside, Platina always greeted the rising sun and would tread away from her house the same time every morning.

What had survived through the summer's relentless heat and droughts, was being harvested. As Lucian would walk on in the early evenings, villagers observed him with disdain. He made sure to steer clear of the household he once slept in, and more importantly, kept a sharp vigil for his parents.

He never saw them. He knew they were the ones avoiding him.

Sometimes, some of the few, kind villagers would invite him in for an evening, and it was those occasional, weekly occurrences in which Lucian used to bathe himself and eat as properly as he could. As it neared close to the beginning of autumn however, the elderly and soft hearted women chose to avert their gaze when he walked by. With the news of so many disappointing crops, the entire village knew it was time to start preparing for a harsh, cruel winter. Coriander was still reeling from the failed trek to Crell.

The wind was cool one day when Platina went to collect the last bunch of apples that laid sprawled on the grass beneath the few, bearing trees hidden behind her property. Her clear eyes were squinted towards the sky and she raised one little hand to her brow, as if to challenge the cold sun itself. As she walked away for the last time that year, the breeze ruffled her cloaks and Lucian saw her visibly shudder and hurry on to her home. Lucian was always shaking and wanting to reveal himself, but never did. As the end of the month came and went, and Platina turned fourteen, he could not bring himself to tell her that perhaps she was one day going really, really far away.

Warmth and light gave way to bitter, miserable skies, often peppered with the season's first bouts with flurries and frost. The chill in the air made him lose confidence in what he had heard nearly two months before. No matter how often Lucian watched her, Platina would always lay her pretty head down every night and awake unscathed the next morning.

It wasn't until Platina herself had inadvertently walked in upon the players pushing for her kidnapping, that Lucian knew it was time to get her away from the village instead of sticking around to convince her what to do.

"When Laia realized the coming winter would paralyse her household…she knew it was time," Lucian breathed in sharply, watching the evil woman's hand mar the pale complexion of Platina, who cradled the side of her face with crying eyes.

"She used her own daughter to work and support her until it was time to dispose of her,"

Lucian didn't have the strength to sob anymore, as he saw Platina unexplainably turn into the form of his little Mally.

He dashed off to line his pockets with the only supplies they would need in their getaway.


	21. Soon We See Shadow and Light

Lucian was forced to inhale sharply every time he saw her bathed in moonlight. The frost on the ground crunched underfoot, yet he painfully took notice of the fact that Platina's window still wasn't boarded up. She was entirely covered in blankets and as Lucian leaned forward to search for her hand, he knew she was still cold.

"Lucian…" she murmured, her eyes fluttering open. He drew back.

"What's going on? Do you know what time it is?" She had sat up, and Lucian swallowed the lump in his throat. "Are you just tired or have you forgotten all of the evenings we shared out here…" he ached to say, but knew it was no time to berate her.

"Ssh! Be quiet…" he returned, his hand still held in front of him, "Platina… We've got to run! Come now, hurry!" His eyes were wide and pleading. She returned his gaze, frightened by the urgent tone in his voice.

"What are you talking about, Lucian?"

_Lucian?_

_Lucian?_

Her voice echoed in his head and he squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again, shaking off any desire to calmly explain the situation. His heart beat fast with panic. "Listen to me," he said carefully, "Your mother and father, they…" His words died in his throat and he continued, "They've sold you-"

A cold sweat oozed out onto his skin as a menacing figure melted out of the shadows in the doorway of Platina's room.

"You little thief!" Laia's harsh voice intoned, and Lucian's head started to swim with fear.

"What are you doing to my daughter!"

"Come on!" Lucian barked, reaching forward and grasping at darkness, quickly finding Platina's hand. The urgency of his touch immediately moved Platina into his arms and he easily manoeuvred her through the window and away from her house. The two figures glided through the grass and opted to take cover within the trees.

Lucian's ears were ringing the entire time they ran. He didn't know how long it was; Platina's frightened, steady breathing was all that was real to him as he remained clamped to her hand, leading her further and further away from her doom. Every tree they passed seemed to bear the face of his lost sister, small and sad, crying out. They urged him to run faster, to pull Platina all the way through those woods until he felt his heart was ready to burst. Her braid flopped all the way behind them.

For as long as he could remember, they ran on, unquestioning. She said nothing; merely panting with weariness, but she didn't ask him to stop or slow down. Once he looked back at her, and he noted with sadness that her eyes were almost shut in exhaustion. Lucian had a sudden desire to stop her, to collapse onto the grass and just rock her to sleep.

With his heart swelling with love from time to time, he felt a renewed sense of direction and hope that carried them far into the forest.


	22. Through a Thin Haze

When the trees started to thin, Platina began to murmur to herself about the stars and lights in the sky. Their feet padded carefully through the thick, murky grass that occasionally threaded onto a barely detectable dirt trail. They followed it.

Lucian had slowed them when he was sure there weren't any villagers behind him. All remained silent, and the forest lapsed back into stillness once they started to leave it behind. The tree tops no longer obscured the sky.

He walked slowly, leading Platina along. Her hand was their saving grace, the one intimate thing that kept him anchored to the present. He never wanted to stop walking; to stop feeling that weight behind him.

All of a sudden, his moment of comfort was taken away from him.

"Lucian, I… I want to go home," Platina's small, feeble voice startled him. Her hand dropped from his, and he turned to face her, with unmasked pity and longing.

"How can you say that?" he barked, unaware of the intensity of his voice. She seemed taken aback by his outburst, but kept on steadily, "I haven't heard anything from Mother about this… Are you sure this isn't all a misunderstanding?" she paused for a moment and then said, "About being sold…"

Lucian was in shock. He was ready to shout at her for letting him drag her all the way into his new world.

Platina wrung her hands timidly, and looked into the darkness behind him. Her words were spoken in unison with the strange noises emanating from the trees. Lucian was unable to stop himself from shrugging.

"She must be so worried about me right now…"

Anger boiled up inside of him, but as usual, Lucian suppressed it and was partially calmed by just looking at her. He kept silent, debating on what to say.

"Lucian?" She queried, peering at him through the dark.

Finally, he chose his words erratically and looked back up at her, "You've seen the men in black, haven't you? They came to my house, too!" He wanted to tell her everything, all that he saw, but the Platina he knew would deny it all, make excuses. Whether she saw the evil in the people around her or chose to forgive it, he didn't know. But he knew that a part of her wanted to end her existence of the servant living in Coriander.

Lucian couldn't stop himself from hanging his head and fighting the lump in his throat once more, "And the next day, my little sister was gone," He let his arms dangle limply at his sides and bit his lip in fury as he picked his next sentence carefully. He felt nothing but hatred sparking within him as he continued, "My _mom and dad_ didn't tell me anything,"

Platina was startled and asked, "Wha? But everyone said she was stricken with a disease…" The expression on her face let Lucian know that she was re-thinking the entire situation but was blindly, still not convinced.

Lucian gestured wildly, furious about the lie. "Oh? Have you ever heard of a disease that makes you _disappear?_" Platina blinked in recognition. "Anyway, our family has no money for doctors!"

She seemed at a loss for words and he turned away from her.

"I just…don't want to lose you," he intoned, perhaps a bit too confidently. The ache in his heart had slipped into his words. Suddenly, it wasn't about losing Maleah anymore.

"Lucian…" Platina breathed, and he fought not to look at her.

"Then let's run away…" her voice said airily, almost dreamily, "Far away!"

Lucian's body quivered due to the intensity of her voice and he let himself let go of his anger.

"I'll go anywhere with you, Lucian…" she added as an afterthought. And suddenly, the boy saw her creep up to him, and the hairs on the back of his neck prickled. Without speaking, he shed the cloak that covered him, and draped it around her shoulders. Knowingly, their hands met once again, and he walked on, surprise and love coursing through his veins and cushioning his every step.

Hours past in silence, and they kept on, this time side by side. A partnership into a new, unforgiving world. It was them, together.

When the sky was completely cleared of leaves and gnarled branches, Lucian looked to the sky, alive with the light of the moon and stars dancing around its fullness. The trees were even less at that point, and Lucian wondered if their first, upcoming sunset together would make way to a new life.

"Where do you think we are?" he asked, as they walked carefully down a decline. As they made their way out of that part of the forest, their sight was met with bleak, concealing fog and they struggled not to be afraid.

"I don't know…" Platina answered wearily, "What will become of us now?"

Lucian regretted the fact that he didn't know what to say to her. They didn't speak again, as they walked boldly into the churning, twisting mist that Lucian knew, would eventually give way to snow-capped mountains. He wondered if there was a place like Crell, on the other side. Though when they did emerge, much later, they had not even breached the bottom of mountains, but had led themselves into a valley devoid of sound, save for the rustling of leaves. He found it odd that there stood so much plant life ahead of them, during the middle of the autumn month.

Lucian inhaled the vigorous pre-mountain air and gasped, "Where…?"


	23. Weeping Lilies

"It's so beautiful! Do you think this might be…" Platina trailed off as she stepped forward into the green foliage. They stood in a field of white flowers that spanned around them as far as the eye could see. The only sound to be heard was the rustling of the leaves brushing together in the silent, cool morning wind. Lucian thought that the sound was hollow; like sand scraping against the wall. It made him nervous.

Platina slowly turned back to him, the breeze strengthening as she did so. Flower petals floated past her, "…Heaven?" she finished her sentence, breathless.

Lucian knit his brow and shifted uncomfortably. Dawn's first light was only beginning to break through the sky, but he could still see the moon. Platina's face seemed majestically illuminated.

"It's bad luck to say such things!" he scoffed, brushing a petal past his face.

Platina turned and stepped away from him slowly, saying, "Tee hee. I'm sorry," she remained rigid and still as the flowers blew all around her, lifting her hair. Lucian swatted leaves away from his shins and then suddenly the eerie glow of the flowers caught his eye. He doubled over and laced his fingers through a couple stems.

"These flowers…they're…!" He looked up and realized Platina had knelt and buried her face into the stalks. Lucian darted up and, shouting, "Platina! We've got to get out of here!"

She seemed not to hear him.

"These flowers," Lucian went on, wildly, "all of them, they're…"

The petals in the air seemed to whip past him mockingly.

"Weeping Lilies!"

Another strong gust of wind sent them hurtling by Platina. "Weeping…Lilies?" she asked quietly.

"That's right! If we stay here, their poison will kill us!" he cried, and leaned forward to pull her up, but she did so voluntarily.

"Platina?"

She didn't look at him. Lucian blinked in horror. His vision blurred as Platina somehow ended up in his arms, weeping. She was trembling, and her voice was very, very quiet as she said, "If I were to fall asleep here, would I be able to just…slip away?"

Lucian's lips parted and he inhaled sharply, frightened by the tone of her voice and the delirium that seemed to have seduced her.

"Wh..what…"

"I can't stand it any longer!" she cried, sobbing into him, "No matter how hard I've tried… Mother and Father have never treated me with kindness!" Lucian's heart beat fast with pity. She had lost all resolve, and looked up at him pleading, her eyes swimming with tears, her beautiful face tainted by sorrow of the cruellest kind. She then pressed her face against his chest and squeezed his sides painfully.

Tears began to fall from Lucian's eyes and he began to quiver; his vision a sea of dancing petals and darkness. The feel of Platina wrapped around him, sobbing, pushed him back into a world of hurt that he believed long forgotten.

"If you care about me so much, Lucian…Do you think…"

Wetness seeped through his shirt. It was warm from the press of Platina's cheek.

"Do you think we might be reborn?" Platina's head raised and she stared at him, mouth agape and lips trembling. Her eyes were wild and Lucian wanted to kiss her and howl in terror.

"That we might be reborn…together?"

Lucian was stunned into silence and felt her small body weaken with each passing moment. He held onto her but was tempted to pull away. He didn't want to feel the life slip from her.

"I'm so glad to have known you, Lucian," she whispered, and he was drawn into her wild, searching eyes. He didn't want to look but her gaze was too strong, too maddening. She bowed her head.

"But I have too many awful memories. I just want to forget…forget…it…all…"

And then she wasn't there anymore. But his vicelike kept her from falling back completely when her body stiffened and then was devoid of life.

"No! Wake up!" Lucian screamed, shaking her, and nearly keeling over from her sudden collapse.

"I won't have it! You want me to forget?" he shouted at her frail body, "Would you forget me too, Platina!"

Anger surged from his racing heart, which seemed to threaten to burst open upon the very spot on which Platina had wiped her tears. And then all at once, it stopped.

The anger stopped, the heartbreak stopped. Lucian was sure his very heart had stopped. His body was numb and cold, pelted with the poison of the lilies blowing around him. But they had done their duty, stolen the one they preyed upon first.

Platina had stopped.

Lucian howled her name to the full moon like a rabid, feral dog, fresh tears streaming from his eyes. His head was thrown back in pain and he didn't know how long it was before he let her drop to the ground.

_Her._

Platina.


	24. The NeverEnding Cycle of Reincarnation

He found the boy face down in the dirt several feet from where the flowers started to grow. He reasoned that Lucian fled through the back woods and emerged into Weeping Lily Valley where he succumbed to their poison scent.

Directly ahead of his body was a trail of broken flowers that ended some distance away. Beyond that was a mound of dirt with a stone marker set upon the top. Brian knew that the dirt was too fresh and the formation too suspicious, to be natural.

When he pulled Lucian's head gently away from the ground, he was surprised to see him sputter.

"Lucian? Lucian, can you hear me?" Carefully, Brian pulled Lucian over onto his back and eased his head upon his lap. Lucian continued to cough and his eyes roamed, unseeing. Brian popped the lid off the top of his canteen and splashed water across Lucian's face. It did nothing but wash the mud from his pale cheeks, and still the boy murmured incoherently.

"What happened here, Lucian?" Brian whispered, gently rubbing at Lucian's wrists. After some time, he pulled a blanket out from the large bag strapped to his back and slipped it under Lucian's head. The boy fell silent and seemed to sleep.

Brian stood up and squinted his eyes against the sunlight. None of the flowers were stirring, and he felt that something horribly wrong had taken place where he stood. His hand resting upon the hilt of his sword strapped to his side, Brian carefully stepped over Lucian and crept into broken flowers. He took care not to breathe too deeply, nor to inhale through his nose.

"These evil weeds should be burned…" he muttered, as he followed the trampled stems and came to clump of dirt. He stood before it and inspected it carefully, then turned back to look at Lucian's still body.

"Someone you know…" he whispered, and bowed his head, realizing the significance of Lucian's journey.

He stood there for a long time, damning the entire field and finally drew his sword in a rare moment of hostility. His blade met with stems left and right as he turned and started to walk back to Lucian. It didn't matter how many he decided to cut, since they grew like wildfire in that one spot.

But it was for the boy.

His sharp eyes detected a glimmer nearly beneath his feet and he tore at the plants to dig at it. Unearthing a small, crystal earring, Brian held it up to the sun. It shimmered all colours of the rainbow, catching the light. He whistled, and pocketed the gem.

Lucian groaned from a distance and Brian looked up quickly. Sheathing his sword, he stepped away from the mound and flew to the boy's side.

"Lucian, Lucian!" he cried, but still Lucian's murmurs would not make sense.

Brian sighed and knelt beside him, deciding it was time to truly whisk Lucian away from the village of horrors.

He smiled slightly and began the long, gruelling trek out of the mountains with a mechanical, unseeing Lucian at his side. The mate to the pocketed earring sparkled in the ground beneath the makeshift grave, unseen.

Lucian truly woke up with a gem in his palm and a sabre at his side. An elderly woman smiled at him and suggested that he not speak just yet. His head was swimming with hurt and nightmares and he didn't comprehend the face peering into his.

"The kind gentleman gave you these,"

Words drifting in and out.

"W-here, where am I?" the boy stammered, and once more, his eyes closed.

He wasn't awake to hear the response.

_Certain characters and events copyrighted by Square-Enix. The rest were thought up by me to flesh out a rather loose and intriguing storyline that was not elaborated upon. If you'd like to learn of Lucian's fate after he arrived in Gerabellum, play Valkyrie Profile!_

_The end, sort of._


End file.
